The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-06-03

me, so / went back to the MankatO
House TO see If could find Paul; did
not find him and went back after few
minutes to the room to see ii Paul was
there yet; he thought, as there was a
good deal of talk lately about the street
cars here, he would walk up that way
by the barn and went up there; walked
past the barn two or three blocks. and
turned around and came back y there
was good many at the barn when /
got back; among them saw Chas. Davis
and we talked a little together; i staid
there 10 or 20 minutes, then got into the
street car to take ride; came down to
the post-ofiice crossing and got off the
car; / went over to the drug store EN-
ersons) and met McLynch; it was about
20 minutes to 8 o'clock; / talked with
him about the country, etc. he had been
in Winnepeg; talked with him slout
different matters, about 20 Minutes;
there were good many people went by
from toward the Mankato House; no.
ticed Louis Under among them; took
out my watch; it was 10 minutes past g.;
left Lynch and went over to the post
office crossing and went up to my room
found my brother there; he asked where
had been and asked where be had
been; l told him, and he said he had
been mt Clayton's, the music man; he
asked me what time it was and said it
was quarter past 8; l picked up my book
and read about two minutes, my brother
in the meantime had gone to bed; laid
| down the book, undressed and went to
bed and asleep; Paul either rolled round
| or struck me some way Isuppose;
woke up; he said what Is that noise?
don't you hear some noiseP got up and
| partly dressed and went out on the
stairs; saw Joe Reynolds, and asked
him what's up; he said "a fire, it Is right
| over there In your store;" | thought he
was joking; thought at first it was Will
liam's place; saw a crowd around there
There had been good
deal of trouble with leakage of gas;
thought it must be that; met Melon
aid and gave HIM the keys; he asked for
them; did not see anything to excite
my suspicious till the next day; 1 did
not have the least suspicion of incendl-
arlsm; l did not know / had an enemy;
thought Mankato people were all friends
TO me. l saw several damaged boxes
the next morning and found boxes with
oil in some of the shoes; then / thought
there had been some one meddline; |
found the bills had made out living
on the desk, but some of them were
badly solled; Jones said had better go
and get the insurance men to come in
and settle the damage; Rose came in
and asked me If / had examined the
locks; told him, no, Iguessed the locks
werefall right. He asked me if / had
any idea of the origin of the fire; that
was shortly after; do not know to this
day who set fire to the place.
| When went away that day the cur
tains in front We're all down but one of
the door curtains that was up; always
left it up so that the watchman could see
in; had about $50 in the safe think
that day; Saturday was our heaviest day
for trade; had good business estab-
lished and was making money. No, /
have no clue to who set the fire; may
have an idea, but no clue; / did not
know where they keep the oil in the
Mankato House till Phelps showed me a
short time ago.
Court took recess till $50 a. m. Friday.
FRIDAY, May, q, 1887.
At $50 the examination of Max Krolik
was continued. Tire most of the testi-
mony was in regard to the moneys re-
ceived and paid out and merchandise
bought and sold, and was quite tedious,
as it was gone into in detail. Nothing
of Importance was developed but what
was brought out in the preliminary ex-
animation, but it gave evidence of his
! being first-class book-keeper. He had
| been in business about seven months
and had advertised extensively and been
to a great deal of expense and built up
first-class trade, and his books showed
gain over all of (his expense ac-
count was about 81, 500 for seven months)
| profit, which is something. A business
4 man WhQn ct a ri mo- in, Inns N aco no bod
or others do, rarely expect to make a
profit at all, over all expenses, the first
| year. He was well satisfied he said with
the result of his business up to the time
of the fire, ana his jobbing trade was in
quired into pretty thoroughly by the
attorney for the state. A Mrs. Palmer,
in st. James, (who kept boarding
house, he thought), was shown by his
| books to have been pretty good Gus
toner for first-class goods; also lady
now living in Duluth, sent to him for
dancing shoes. His books showed that
he had quite number of evidently"
pretty good customers, scattered round
the state pretty well-some in Pipestone,
Duluth, st. James, Montiyedio, Prairie
Junction, etc. When he thought of GO
ing away, he offered his stock and good
| will for sale, and was offered by Mr..
Herman, who was travelling for the firm
of Ziegler q Co., Philadelphia, so or IS
cents on the dollar, but he thought he
| ought to get 100 per cent. and bonus
besides. After hearing from his intend
ed he changed his plans and concluded
| to stay. He was the only witness ex-
amined in the case during the forenoon.
AT l:45 a. IN. court took recess until
80 p. m.
In the afternoon the cross-examina-
ton of Mr.. Krolik was continued.
He denied having his attention called to
the burned matches and oil in the boxes
OF shoes, the morning after the fire, by
Policeman Jones, as testified to by that
gentleman; said he noticed or discover
ed it himself The oil seemed to be
| mixed with water found i'm q shoe right
on top; claimed that the boxes burned
were nearly all full of goods; denied
that there was but about full box put
ting them altogether; thought he had
| sold but very few out of them. He gave
| a mortgage to the bank day or SO after
| the fire to secure note they had dis
counted for him that was not due till
September. The note amounted to $3.50
and was given to him by Herman, Zieg-
ler's travelling man, for money loaned
him. The note was introduced in evil
dence. Having unlimited credit with
A. Krolik q Co., he had been able to
save by discounting his bills before they
| were due, in the seven months busi-
ness, $3.50. During that time had drawn
on A. Krolik & Co. for So 200. Had al
| ways made practice of paying bills be-
fore due. The first six months his ex-
pense account ran up to 81 ,52298. THE
dav-book, journal and ledger were offer.
| ed in evidence.)
PAUL KRoLIK was the next witness; he
testified that he had not noticed the oil
can in the store or months previous
to the fire; when he last saw it, It was in
the gallery, as testified TO before by 9TH
er witnesses; knew of its being bought
and brought into the store 6 orr months
previous to the fire; also testified to hav-
| ing lost the key to the back door; also
knew of Jones having lost a key to the
back door, but he thought Jones got
gas leaking; had been sent to notify the
gas company to make repairs; did not
recollect particularly as to the curtains
on the front; thought they generally
kept one Of them up on the door; went
| to dinner 1890; spent part of the after
noon at Clayton's, and was round the
| Mankato House part of the time; went
/ to get some ice cream, and ate IL in the
room with Max, as testified to by Max:
the room is right opposite the store;
there are two stair ways to the hall lead
| ing to the sleeping room. one rear and
one in front; the night Of the fire the
circumstances are described as given by
Max in his direct testimony rs to going
| to bed and putting out the light, going to
sleep, ETC.: he thought Max had ON the
coat he intended for part of his wedding
suit that night when he returned from
his walk; IL was Is minutes past when